Summary: **Part of the 2011 LiveJournal's Twisted Shorts August Fic-A-Day** series. Somebody told Wesley life would be easier away from the Council.

Challenge: for the livejournal 2011 August Fic a Day Challenge. And #6471 on TtH.

Timeline: AU for BtVS/AtS; unknown for C&H.

Warning: not for Roger Wyndam-Pryce fans, if there are any.

A/N: Huh, a bit harder than I thought – but that might have something to do with the mucus monster clogging up my sinuses right now. Sorry for the TMI.

Disclaimer: BtVS and AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon / Mutant Enemy. Calvin and Hobbes characters belong to Bill Watterson. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

England

Normally in a Watcher's family, the eldest son is chosen to train to be a Watcher. If there is no son, then the eldest daughter gets the honor. Only in rare instances are younger siblings considered – and most often because of mental or physical infirmity.

That wasn't the case for Wesley Wyndam-Pryce.

Apparently, his father, Roger Wyndam-Pryce decided that Wesley's younger sister, Martha, would make a better candidate. And so, when Wesley finished sixth form – which was as long as his mother was able to coerce Roger to agree to – he was summarily 'excused' from his family and told to make his own way elsewhere.

What nobody knew was that Wesley wasn't Roger's son. Caroline Wyndam-Pryce had an affair with Edward Giles when she found out that Roger was sleeping with one of the other Watchers. To avoid the scandal it would cause, Roger agreed to 'accept' Wesley as his son until he was an adult, but no further. There was no point in asking Edward to claim him since the Giles family had already decided on Rupert becoming a Watcher.

Stung by the dismissal of who he thought was his father, Wesley moved to the United States and went to law school, eventually becoming a patent attorney. He met his wife, Lynda and they had a son. His sister – former sister now – once told him that life would be less stressful for him since he didn't have to become a Watcher.

She might have changed her mind if she ever had to meet Calvin.

Living room of their home

Wesley was sitting in his easy chair, enjoying a rare peaceful moment with his paper when he heard the voice he loved to hate. Sometimes he thought his own father – former father – had somehow placed a curse on him so that Calvin was three times more energetic and ten times more curious than other children his age; a combination that got the boy into more trouble than he could keep up with.

"Hey, Dad," Calvin greeted, clipboard in hand. "I'd like to congratulate you on the latest Dad-approval poll results. You've managed to climb five points in the last week."

Knowing there was more to it, Wesley warily replied, "That's nice, Calvin."

His son just kept going, "In fact, if you take appropriate action right now, you could break the 85th percentile for the first time!"